Viewed in McKinsey
Amid a challenging economic environment and rapid changes, CEOs are seeking avenues for growth, and an effective partnership with their Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) can be the key.
To understand the dynamics within high-growth and low-growth companies, a survey and interviews with C-level growth roles (including CMOs) and CEOs from various industries were conducted.
The authors revealed that the relationship between CEOs and CMOs and their collaborative definition of marketing’s role in shaping growth strategy significantly correlated with a company’s performance.
Strong collaboration
CEOs who centralize marketing in their growth strategy are twice as likely to achieve over 5 percent annual growth.
However, realizing marketing’s full potential involves building a strong collaboration between CEOs and CMOs.
Pain points were identified, such as unclear C-level growth responsibilities, an underestimated understanding of marketing’s potential, and a misalignment between marketing metrics and business impact.
Empowering the CMO role
The role of CMOs, traditionally responsible for the 4Ps (product, price, place, promotion) in customer interactions, has expanded with the rise of marketing-adjacent roles.
CEOs are distributing customer-related responsibilities across multiple roles, leading to uncertainty about which executive owns growth strategies.
This blurring of marketing’s role hinders the alignment between CEOs and CMOs regarding marketing’s contribution to growth.
Fast changing marketing capabilities
Furthermore, CEOs often underestimate modern marketing’s capabilities and complexity. Marketing has evolved into a technical discipline with multiple dimensions and is constantly changing.
CEOs’ unfamiliarity with these modern marketing tools and tactics creates a disconnect with CMOs’ perceptions of marketing’s capabilities.
Shared performance metrics
A misalignment of marketing measurement and business impact is another challenge. CEOs and CMOs often focus on different metrics and are not working toward the same objectives.
CEOs often feel a lack of clarity in linking marketing metrics to overall business impact. Without credible measurement, CEOs cannot track marketing’s impact on growth.
C-level focus on customer-centric growth
To address these issues and unlock growth, CEOs must redefine the role of CMOs by clearly defining marketing’s remit and encouraging a C-level role that focuses on customer-centric growth.
They must build their conviction in modern marketing and prioritize time with CMOs to understand how marketing can contribute to the company’s growth objectives.
Take-aways
Companies that place marketing at the core of their growth strategy tend to perform better.
CEOs can no longer underestimate marketing as a growth partner, and taking these steps can help position marketing at the heart of the growth engine, capturing the potential of marketing-led growth.
